7 Fights That Defined Mixed Martial Arts

Trends in MMA have always existed. Who could forget fighters recently flocking to hire movement coaches following the success Conor McGregor after his training with Ido Portal? In the initial years of the UFC, BJJ was the dominant trend, with fighters lining up to learn the ground skills required to prevent themselves being instantaneously submitted. However, as the decade continued American collegiate wrestlers merged their impressive take-down skills with submission defence to become the preeminent force in the early UFC.

Mark Coleman was one of these wrestlers. Having earned a silver medal in the 1991 World Championships, the American certainty had the pedigree to be a success at the highest level of MMA. At UFC 17 Coleman squared off with Pete Williams of Ken Shamrock’s Lion’s Den fight team. Coleman implemented his game-plan almost immediately by taking Williams down and raining down strikes.

Following a lull in the action the fight was stood up and the muscle-bound Coleman began to show visible signs of fatigue throughout the remainder of the 12 minute first round. As the overtime round started, Williams was clearly the far fresher of the two and demonstrated this by landing a barrage of uncontested offence on the seemingly lifeless wrestler. As Coleman stood, hands down, attempting to catch his breath against the cage, Williams landed a flush head kick ending the contest. The finish was the first head kick KO in UFC history and was enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame Fight Wing in 2016.